1. EssEx County
EX+ PAGE 21 | JunE 5, 2011 | NJ.COM
Community Calendar. Page 25
Irvington calls back 31 police officers Stressing
foreign
Mayor: Rehires just in time for summer Smith said. “Summer’s here of manpower since 1965, ac- last few years and is poised to
By Richard Khavkine in a cost-cutting move by the
and we don’t want it to heat
up.”
cording to Detective Jerry Ra-
mos, president of the Irving-
reduce those numbers even
further, statistics indicate. The language
education
The STar-Ledger fiscally challenged township. The crime rate usually ton Policemen’s Benevolent 3-square-mile urban township
Thirty-one Irvington police Mayor Wayne Smith said climbs between May and Sep- Association. has had three homicides so far
officers laid off earlier this Irvington was able to afford tember, police Director Jo- ramos welcomed the police this year. Although just down
year have returned to the de- the officers after state officials seph Santiago said, because boost, but he said more offi- from four over the same pe-
partment, in time to combat allowed the township to make longer days and warmer tem- cers are needed if police are to riod last year, those numbers Federal legislation
the season’s perennial crime installment payments on a $6 peratures mean there’s “more maintain a lower crime rate in continue a downward trend. would provide $50M
spike. million budget obligation rath- street activity. the township. Irvington used to habitually
The officers — nearly 20 per- er than demand a lump sum. “Crime is seasonal,” he said. Irvington has experienced a average about 25 a year, but By Julia Terruso
cent of the force — were given “We want to do everything Before the rehires, the significant dip in violent crime homicides dipped to 17 and 14 STar-Ledger STaff
pink slips at the end of March we can to keep crime down,” force was at its lowest level — especially murders — in the SEE OFFicers, PagE 24 When Rep. Rush Holt heard
about FBI storerooms stacked
with untranslated documents
and U.S. businesses losing
contracts for want of bilingual
negotiating power, it became
clear to him the country had a
Help from
language problem.
The solution, decided
Holt (D-12th Dist.) and
others who advocate
over tHe
more extensive foreign-
language instruction,
lies in bolstering the na-
tion’s budget-strapped
rainbow
K-12 programs.
As a start, Holt and Sen.
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
have introduced legislation
in the House and Senate to
provide $50 million in federal
funds for public school stu-
Sale of of iconic crystal ball dents to learn foreign languag-
to aid teen arts program es, starting in kindergarten.
“This modest bill addresses
a big gap in language train-
By Joe Moszczynski ing,” Holt said Thursday. “The
STar-Ledger STaff United States has a real prob-
An anonymous New Jersey inventor lem with foreign languages
who sold the crystal ball used in the and we need to address it for
movie classic “The Wizard of Oz” at economic reasons, reasons of
a Hollywood auction will donate a national security, quality of life
portion of the $110,000 proceeds to and cultural enrichment.”
support a New Jersey teen arts pro- As school districts across
gram, according to the program the country face state and
coordinator at Sussex County Com- federal budget cuts, language
munity College. programs are often the first to
The unidentified man, who par- go, foreign-language educators
ticipated in SCCC’s festival in the and lobbyists said.
1980s, hopes his donation will help In New Jersey, Gov. Chris
spur interest in — and additional Christie cut $825 million from
donations — to the festival, which education last year, prompting
was canceled on the state level this many schools to replace for-
year due to a lack of funding, said eign-language teachers with
Stella Trikorous, coordinator of the instructional CDs and com-
New Jersey Teen Arts Festival at puter programs. On the federal
SCCC. level, Congress cut $50 million
“The monetary amount (of the do- from foreign-language educa-
nation) I’m not sure of. But the point is tion this year, and the House
he wants it to be a jump-start for greater Education Committee has pro-
things for teen arts,” said Trikorous, who posed cutting an additional $27
doesn’t know the identity of the mystery million.
donor, who contacted her through a mutual Holt said the Foreign Lan-
friend. guage Education Partnership
While the original sale price posted by Program Act (HR 1966) will
Profiles in History, a Hollywood auction make the country more glob-
house, was estimated at $40,000 to $60,000, ally competitive and secure.
the hand-blown glass ball, approximately “When you see foreign
25 inches in diameter, netted $126,500 at companies prospecting for
last month’s auction, including a 15 percent minerals needed or interna-
buyer premium, said auction house spokes- tional banks looking for part-
man Brian Chanes. nerships, the companies that
It was authenticated when tiny bubbles have facility with language
found in the clear glass matched the small often land those contracts,” he
Photo Courtesy of Profiles in history
blemishes seen on the irregularly shaped ball said.
in the film, he said. Dorothy, played by Judy Garland, speaks to Auntie Em in a crystal ball while held captive by The bill would directly
Chanes said he wasn’t surprised the the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. The glass ball, above, was recently sold at fund teacher recruitment,
SEE Wizard, PagE 25 a Hollywood auction. high school study-abroad
SEE Language, PagE 24
Fresh Air Fund provides a rural respite for city kids
By Nic Corbett Hunterdon County. A representative from the
The Greater Newark The STar-Ledger Salvation Army in Newark gave a short presen-
Fresh Air Fund depends on
Growing up in New York City, Alexandra tation to parents gathered at the Newark Day
your efforts to assist needy
Pereira and two of her siblings would spend a Center, which runs the Greater Newark Fresh
children and their families.
Names of contributors will fun-filled, carefree summer week living with Air Fund to send inner-city children to summer
be published in The Sunday host families in rural Massachusetts through camp.
Star-Ledger until the Fresh Air Fund. “I organize everything here in Newark to get
all have been “It was in the country, so there was nothing your kids safely to the camp and then safely
acknowledged. but open roads,” Pereira said. home from the camp,” said Andrea Snyder, hu-
Donations are Now a medical assistant living in Newark, the man services director at the Salvation Army.
tax-deductible. 33-year-old Pereira wants her three children to “I’m sort of like your home base contact.”
Send checks to: also be exposed to another way of life, far from Snyder told the crowd of about two dozen
the violence of city streets. parents and children she has long been a fan of
Greater Newark
“I want them to know ... that there’s another Salvation Army camps.
Fresh Air Fund
43 Hill St., Newark, NJ world out there, that they don’t need to stay in “I attended my first Salvation Army camp
07102 Newark,” she said. when I was 5 years old and I’ve gone back every
Joe Proudman/the star-ledger
Pereira attended an orientation session summer, or at least some part of it, to a Salva-
or by credit card at: Wednesday to prepare her kids for a week at tion Army camp, even if it was just to visit,” she Cheryl Cato of East Orange fills out applications for her three
www.newarkdaycenter.org Camp Tecumseh, a Salvation Army-run camp said. “I won’t tell you how many years that is children to attend the Salvation Army’s Camp Tecumseh.
located on 400 acres of rolling hills in rural SEE Fund, PagE 24 A camp orientation was hosted by the Newark Day Center.
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